


Long Live the King

by WaltherP420



Series: mean luzeni series (placeholder name) [1]
Category: Lupin III
Genre: Angst and Drama, Arguing, Developing Friendships, Emotional Manipulation, Explicit Language, M/M, Melodrama, Mild Blood, Minor Injuries, Strained Friendships, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaltherP420/pseuds/WaltherP420
Summary: Lupin knew he could be cruel and violent and paranoid and while that was all useful for being a thief and a criminal and a con man he sometimes struggled to keep those impulses in check in the rest of his life. It was a big part of why he'd been doubtful of Zenigata's kindness in the first place. Deep down he hadn't felt like he was worthy of any of it. People faking love and backstabbing him seemed much more in line with what he felt like he deserved.What a disaster.
Relationships: Arsène Lupin III/Zenigata Kouichi
Series: mean luzeni series (placeholder name) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188485
Comments: 15
Kudos: 60





	Long Live the King

Koichi Zenigata had been chasing Lupin III for half a year now and was growing accustomed to intensifying feelings of anger and fear and self-loathing as he watched the other man slip through his fingers over and over again, not to mention some other feelings he stubbornly fought acknowledging or giving name to. Right now, however, he was feeling the first three even more intensely than usual.

It had been a heist bust then a foot chase through alleyways then a chase up the fire escape of a derelict apartment building, all the way to the rooftop. It was dark and pouring rain and Zenigata had already sliced the palm of his right hand open on some rusted metal protrusion while climbing.

The same hand he used to fire his gun. So much for that.

So tonight was already on its way to the top of the list of failures he was rapidly accumulating after a near-spotless pre-Lupin career when he charged at Lupin and Lupin feinted him, effortlessly sidestepping and using Zenigata's own momentum to shove him forward and over the side of the roof. Grinning ear to ear the entire time but with what Zenigata read as hate and killing intent in his eyes. It was hard to read it as anything else considering they were eight stories up.

Zenigata scrambled to get a hold on the edge of the roof as he went over it, screamed when his split hand slammed onto the concrete, but held on as best as he could, trying to get his left hand to do more of the lifting while his blood mixed with grit and rainwater under his right.

Zenigata was enraged at Lupin, he was gripped by the cold, pitch-black fear of death, and most of all he hated himself for his stupidity and weakness. His ineptitude was about to kill him. The feelings right now weren't so confusing. There was cold comfort in no longer being deluded into thinking there was some glimmer of a good heart or someone Zenigata could one day connect with under the sneering, superficially charming veneer of Lupin III.

That delusion Zenigata had quietly nursed- that Lupin's charm wasn't just superficial, that the brief glimpses of something warm, of Lupin having some kind of desire to connect with him or viewing their rivalry as a good-natured game even though Lupin had much more to lose if he lost- was being shattered. But it was good that it was being shattered. It was that delusion that was probably about to get Zenigata killed. He'd be glad that he hadn't died still clinging to it like a sentimental idiot.

Lupin then stepped toward the edge of the roof. His face, covered in rainwater and holding the same nasty sneer, was underlit by a nearby billboard and an animated neon sign advertising a strip club, white with moving flashes of red lighting up different aspects of his features, and to Zenigata he looked like a looming perched gargoyle with a shape-shifting face. Like a monstrous hawk who had just landed in front of a wounded sparrow.

The strain was so much. Zenigata was not a small man or a thin man and both hands were starting to slip and every time he'd muster the strength to slap a hand back on the rim of the roof it took something out of him, and try as he might he couldn't get enough leverage before slipping again to pull his body up. His boots just kept slipping uselessly against the wall as well, no matter how much he kicked and tried to find leverage.

The roof's edge Zenigata was clinging to was elevated about a foot from the main area Lupin was standing on. Even with everything slick with rain, Lupin effortlessly hopped up, both feet landing with a crunch on either side of Zenigata's injured hand.

Zenigata thought about reaching and gripping Lupin's ankle but Lupin seemed to read his mind, drawing and aiming his Walther at Zenigata's head before he had the chance. Oh, fantastic. Another item added to the running list of what could potentially kill him tonight. Though "his own stupidity" was still in first place.

Zenigata was crying and he hoped Lupin wouldn't notice. Self-loathing and self-pity and tears and rain ran all across his face, though, and Lupin was always good at reading him anyway, so rather than hoping he didn't notice he tried to hope instead that the other man wouldn't use it to twist the knife as one final indignity before lining up his shot and putting Zenigata down like a stray dog that had tailed him for too long.

And it wasn't lost on Zenigata that Lupin had landed by his injured hand. He kept watching Lupin's legs for movement, of one of those expensive european shoes shifting to press down with slowly increasing weight on his fingertips, or to stomp his full weight down all at once and snap his fingers against the roof.

Zenigata had been swimming when he was a boy once and had seen a bully do it to another boy who was trying to climb out of the pool- slam a foot down on his fingers, grinding them under his shoe into the concrete as he wailed. Zenigata had launched himself from the pool like a torpedo and had tackled the offender off of the other child and onto the ground. He had always been built big which had been an advantage in those situations, though he would have done the same even if he'd been scrawny. He knew from a young age that if he didn't then he ran the risk that nobody else would.

His arms ached and he also knew that nobody was going to come out of the blue to save him now.

Lupin looked angry. He snatched Zenigata's hat off and tossed it back behind him onto the roof. Even more rain got in Zenigata's eyes. Why had Lupin done that? To have a souvenir of his win the way serial killers kept trophies from kills? As another added indignity?

"Last week in New York," said Lupin, his eyes cold and his voice booming over the rain, "and a month ago in Bermuda, and a month before that in Dubai. I've counted three," he paused briefly and held three fingers up rigid in front of his own face, "different times now that you had me pinned and had your Colt lined up for a kill shot. Three times I fucked up and underestimated you and left myself open. But you always hesitated on pulling the trigger. And I got away every time."

Lupin's other hand holding his gun was shaking. Lupin had the upper hand in every conceivable way here. What did he have to be afraid of?

Yet Lupin's next words sounded almost shrill with fear and rage.

" _Why didn't you_ _kill me_?"

Zenigata was dumbfounded. Was Lupin angry at Zenigata for not blowing his brains out?

From his fall up until this moment he had figured Lupin was grateful for how soft Zenigata was, how easy to manipulate, a man who would always cave in a game of chicken but out of fear of hurting the other player rather than himself. An easy mark. You didn't have to be an internationally renowned thief to pick up on it. Really, it was a miracle it hadn't gotten Zenigata killed sooner.

"I know it's not against INTERPOL protocol for you to shoot me. I did some digging and I know you keep being encouraged by higher-ups to just do it, just get it over with, save some time and money and paperwork. So why don't you?" When Lupin didn't get a reply he nudged Zenigata's hand with his foot and yelled again- " _Why didn't you just shoot me_?"

"I don't know!" cried Zenigata defensively, a sob in his voice. He didn't, especially now and looking back in hindsight from death's door. "It just seemed wrong! I don't know! There's something- it just seemed-"

"Is someone paying you? Are you just waiting to catch me and hand me off?" Anger was mixing with a cruel, antagonistic smile, almost a grimace on Lupin's face. "Or catch me live and then get me back for all the times I've humiliated you? Fucked you over?" 

"What? No! Don't fucking _insult_ me!" screamed Zenigata back immediately.

Lupin looked satisfied with the truth of Zenigata's answer but still seemed upset. He frowned, grit his teeth, then asked,

" _What am I to you_ , _Zenigata?_ "

"You fooled me," the other man yelled back up at him, exhausted, terrified, past the point of pretense. "You got me. I kept seeing something in you. It must have been a trick." His hands slipped an inch again and he scrambled back up as best he could. But it was a losing battle. Talking was exhausting and made it worse but the gun was still pointed in his face, insistent.

"I know I'm stupid and I know I'm gullible, Lupin, because I thought you might have seen it in me too. And thinking all that, I could never just put you down like some fucking animal. But it looks like I miscalculated and you're going to win after all." He didn't want to look at Lupin anymore. He turned his head away. "A lot sooner than I thought."

"Do you regret it?" asked Lupin, voice marginally more calm.

At that Zenigata looked back up into the cold, dark eyes boring down into him.

"I don't regret not killing a human being, Lupin. But I do regret being stupid enough to think you felt the same way."

Lupin nodded thoughtfully and hopped back down onto the main roof behind him. He then leveraged himself against the small wall and grabbed Zenigata's left arm and the back of his trench coat and started heaving him up. After a few moments it was enough for Zenigata to get the purchase he had been scrambling for the entire time and he hauled himself on shaking arms over the edge and onto the roof proper, twisting and landing on his back, chest heaving and arms and legs splayed out haphazardly. He felt something wet slap his face and realized Lupin had thrown his hat back at him. He put it on and turned to face Lupin and also realized the other man's gun was still pointed at his face.

"You're right, Zenigata. You _are_ stupid, you're gullible, you're predictable. You're soft. You think too much with your big squishy heart instead of your head."

Lupin smiled again and for the first time that night it was light rather than predatory.

"I got that feeling, and that's why I never killed you, either. That's why Goemon and Jigen never killed you for me. And it is just so classically _you,_ Zenigata, that you never even questioned it in us the way I questioned it in you. You just assumed the best of us, that we were like you."

Zenigata shifted to sit and lean his back against the low wall around the roof and held his bleeding hand against his side but didn't otherwise move. It seemed unwise to move when an unpredictable man with a gun was monologuing at you.

"But on my end I _did_ question it, Zenigata. Every time it happened it bothered me. It nagged at me. I had to know. You don't know what I've dealt with before with cops. Part of why I got so good at escaping so fast was to avoid being found dead on a cell floor or handed over to some mafioso idiot whose whatever I stole." He didn't look angry at Zenigata but Lupin's voice was getting strained again. "Every descendent of every famous cop, of every family my father or grandfather screwed over, then other thieves, no-names all over the place who could become somebody by taking down a Lupin. _The_ Lupin III. The first time some stranger tried to kill me I was five years old." He sighed. "It _sucked._ "

"I didn't ask to be born with a target on my back. I mean I know by constantly stealing shit I'm not helping but it ends up all feeding into itself. And when people try to be my friend I never know what they want from me. That can be as benign as them just being starfuckers who prefer famous criminals to rock stars or it could mean they're trying to kill me."

Lupin still had the gun out but he sat down a few feet in front of Zenigata, long, thin legs crossing in front of him, slouching forward.

"And if I'm in a position where I can't trust new friends, why the _fuck_ was I so ready to trust a cop who kept going on about how it was his fated destiny to take me down? Another one of those family tradition freaks and one that was actually getting really close to catching me, which I hadn't dealt with in years?"

Not noticing any change in reaction from Zenigata, Lupin sighed again and kept going.

"I got worried _I_ was being soft, and stupid, and gullible. Because I even started looking forward to you chasing me, Zenigata. But then I could hear my father and grandfather warning me that it was a mistake, and when I thought about it it made some of my scars itch." He reached a hand behind himself under his garish green coat and scratched a spot on his lower back absent-mindedly. "I've been backstabbed- I mean, ah, _literally_ backstabbed- and it feels like shit, like even worse than being regular-stabbed. So I had to figure out if it was an act or not. If you had some other kind of motivation. It didn't seem real that someone trying to catch me could actually be so soft, and so kind, and so fun."

Lupin could then tell from Zenigata's expression that this wasn't helping, even with the (sincere) flattery, so he decided to wrap it up.

"I'm sorry to scare you. I know that was kind of intense. But I had to _know,_ and I figured the only way to know for sure was to push you a little, to see it in your eyes. And fear lets us know that we're still alive, right?"

"I'm sure it wasn't the _only_ way, Lupin," shot back Zenigata.

"That's fair. Okay. It was a dirty shortcut. I'm a little paranoid." He shrugged. "So sue me."

"Heiji Zenigata had enemies too whose descendants haven't forgotten. I've made plenty of my own enemies as well. And I don't have the luxury of just tossing people over the side of buildings to-"

"Oh, come on, I wasn't ever _actually_ going to let you fall, I mean as long as you weren't actually fucking me over you were gonna be fine, old man, I-"

"My life being spared shouldn't be contingent on my relationship to you, _young man,_ you fucking _weasel_ , I-" his breath hitched and he felt himself getting too emotional again and he used his wound as a pretense to hug his arm tighter around himself to try to comfort himself. It didn't work. "I genuinely thought you were about to kill me. You really looked like you wanted to. I kept thinking about how much I had cared about you and how stupid I was." Zenigata's chin was quivering and his voice was unsteady as he cried but he pushed himself to keep going. "But I knew that about myself before I ever met you, Lupin. I know I'm an old, sentimental _idiot._ You aren't the first person to take advantage of that."

Lupin's eyes were wider and his smile was fading as he realized he had gone too far- that in pushing Zenigata so hard he may have just irreparably fractured the bond he had been so desperate to substantiate. Lupin knew he could be cruel and violent and paranoid and while that was all useful for being a thief and a criminal and a con man he sometimes struggled to keep those impulses in check in the rest of his life. It was a big part of why he'd been doubtful of Zenigata's kindness in the first place. Deep down he hadn't felt like he was worthy of any of it. People faking love and backstabbing him seemed much more in line with what he felt like he deserved.

What a disaster.

Lupin sat for a moment, thinking. He then flipped his gun around in his hand so he was holding the barrel and extending the grip to Zenigata. Zenigata was startled by the sudden movement and flinched and then just sat, confused.

Lupin leaned forward, grabbed Zenigata's left hand, and put his gun in it. He then moved back, stood up, and put his arms up.

"The fuck is this? Lupin-"

"Here! Shoot me!"

"I need to go to a hospital, Lupin. And then I want to go home. I don't-"

"Fuck you! Shoot me!"

"What? Is this another test? No! I'm not going to shoot you!"

"It'll make you feel better! Just shoot me!"

"No! I don't want to! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Sure you do, I-"

"You can't just make me trust you again by handing me your gun and telling me to shoot you, Lupin!"

Lupin faltered for a moment then came back with, "I can prove that _I_ trust _you_!"

"I never gave you a reason not to, Lupin! I guess you just made one up in your head!"

"You're trying to haul me off to jail and you know I'll get the death penalty if you do! Come on!"

It was the truth in Lupin's eyes and how he had rationalized everything when deciding to lure Zenigata up to the roof but from Zenigata's expression it was wrong and a very low blow. But Zenigata didn't say anything to defend himself. He just tossed the gun toward Lupin's feet and wrapped his other arm tightly around himself to match his wounded one.

Lupin pouted. The gambit wasn't working. Zenigata had both seen through it and had been too kind to ever want to play into it in the first place. And Lupin had misread some aspect of their game on top of that. This was awful.

Lupin didn't know what to do so he sat down on the ground in front of Zenigata again. He kept opening his mouth to say something then pausing and rethinking it. To Zenigata Lupin just looked like he was filtering through rehearsed speeches and ploys, trying to figure out which calculating method had the highest probability of being effective in this particular situation.

Zenigata wasn't wrong.

Eventually Lupin stopped and just sat staring at Zenigata, rain still pouring down on them both, Zenigata still hugging himself and glowering and it was hard for Lupin to tell but probably still crying.

As the moment stretched on Zenigata looked progressively more angry, emotions building until he couldn't hold them in anymore and let them out in a hurt bellow, like a bear roaring while trying to pull away from the trap that had caught its leg.

"I don't want to be kept alive just because you and your friends take pity on me! I'm not your little joke or your little pet or something, Lupin! I'm a man! I'm a human being too!"

"I don't think, I don't think you're a joke, Zeni-" started Lupin, though his voice was quiet and he had more trouble than usual meeting the inspector's eyes. Confirmation enough for Zenigata, especially in that moment.

"Oh, fuck _off! Come_ off it, Lupin. All the people you trap in your orbit are there to preen your ego and keep you entertained while you look down on us from your fucking 'king thief' throne. And I'm not going to keep being your little, fucking- your little court jester if I'm one misstep away from you killing me. Like if I make a joke you don't like, or," he said, standing up, "if I grow a backbone."

Lupin couldn't wholly deny what Zenigata was saying even if it was being laid out more bluntly and uncharitably than he liked or would have ever described it himself. 

Wasn't it fun for other people to be around him, too? If not, what was all the work he put into dazzling and surprising and entertaining everyone in his "orbit" for? Including Zenigata?

And couldn't they leave whenever they wanted? If they couldn't, then why had he wasted so much time being so afraid of them doing so?

He'd run through the full list of Zenigata-specific ploys and gambits he kept in his head and registered that his options were running out. Over the past few months he'd figured out how easy it was to play Zenigata, to lead him and always have him loyally and predictably follow right in step, at times even like a human marionette, albeit a large marionette that slammed him down and cuffed him or punched him in the face, and one that had his own very emotional and very complex and duty- and pride-driven internal world.

Zenigata was a simple and honest and direct man with a chaotic inner life and Lupin was a chaotic and calculating man with a normally serene and simple inner life. He liked stealing and sex and attention and if he wanted something he went for it. He didn't dream or linger or worry. He had made fun of Zenigata for the whole "fated rivals" obsession but the magnetic pull between them and the way they played off of each other as such different people was _fun_ , goading Zenigata for a reaction was _fun_ , narrowly escaping another convoluted trap Zenigata had set at the last second was _fun_ , and it was a fix Lupin wasn't ready to let go of. Fear of losing it and losing it because of what he'd done was now throwing his shit all out of whack.

This whole altercation felt like his marionette had grabbed his strings and yanked Lupin off his perch the same way Zenigata yanked on one of his rope cuffs. And he wasn't going to let Lupin climb back up like nothing had happened.

Laughing it off didn't work. Giving a dramatic speech didn't work. Flattery didn't work. Offering Zenigata a free opening to hurt him in exchange didn't work.

So Lupin concluded he had two options left.

Either cut and run- say or do something so horrible to Zenigata that he'd either quit the case or come after Lupin's life for real. Lupin could deliberately extinguish the hope of regaining that playful feeling as a pre-emptive strike before Zenigata did. Just go nuclear. Be the villain Zenigata was seeing him as.

Lupin wasn't even sure if Zenigata _could_ quit and if he tried to it would be tempting to keep cruelly goading him until he rounded on them, to let Zenigata hunt that monster he'd seen when Lupin looked down at him earlier, push the older man to see what he was capable of. Facing off against Lupin _and_ Jigen _and_ Goemon was a lot in Lupin's favor but maybe seeing Zenigata when he wasn't being soft could be exciting. It would probably end up with Lupin or one or two of his gang members dead and would definitely end up with Zenigata dead but at least Zenigata would just be angry at him and would stop looking at him with that hurt and weepy expression. At least it would get rid of the nasty feeling of guilt and regret coalescing in his chest. He could replace it with adrenaline and the same kind of ruthless, violent chases and fights he was more accustomed to. His friends all liked Zenigata, both as a person and because he had a lighter touch than cops they'd dealt with before, and they would all be disgusted with what Lupin was doing, but them being disgusted with him was nothing new and he knew they'd go along with it out of necessity.

Or he could just be honest. It was still a deliberate choice to get what he wanted but it probably was the best he could offer Zenigata. It was just a lot more difficult than blowing up and playing the villain. But he knew it was the right way to go. The chance of regaining their connection and their game was worth it. And maybe it was kind of stupid to set them on a path where they'd all kill each other anyway rather than just opening up for a moment to a man who was _always_ open _all the fucking time_. And maybe, too, he didn't need to keep pushing his friends away. He'd already pushed one of them away tonight.

"I need you," said Lupin finally as he stood up in front of Zenigata to stop him from leaving. His voice wasn't sweet and romantic and pleading, it wasn't melodramatic, it wasn't an apology. It wasn't even wheedling. It was furtive and anxious. The rain had let up significantly and Zenigata could see now that Lupin's eyes were wide and hollow. He looked and sounded more to Zenigata like a broke addict talking to his dealer than an international master criminal.

"You're right. When I connect with someone or when I think they're fun to be around, when I feel good when I'm around them, however you want to phrase it, I like to _keep_ them around. I get bored and lonely otherwise. It's like a compulsion. And when people leave me, whether it's them backstabbing me or just getting bored of me, I feel so empty. It's unbearable. So I have to be careful, I mean really careful about who I get close to."

Zenigata looked doubtful but was listening.

"I mean, it's also true what I said earlier, about being afraid of you having ulterior motives or wanting to hurt me. But I think I've also just been freaked out over how much I like seeing you. I've been feeling like I'm getting attached to you way too fast and I don't understand it. You're like a piece of my life that had been missing. Jobs are more fun now. Jigen keeps- Jigen's told me he's noticed I'm less tense on them now. And less violent, and I- we- I think you're a good influence on all of us and everything is fun in a way it hasn't been in a long time. If ever."

Insincere flattery was deeply offensive to Zenigata, in part because he always fell for it. But Lupin was rambling, words pouring out of him, and looked pale, like he was going to be sick. Zenigata had never seen him like this.

"But the change is happening so fast and it's scared me. So maybe part of me wanted you to want to hurt me even though that's absurd. Because if that were true then I wouldn't have to deal with it and could just stay the person that I am. I wouldn't have to change and end up more like you. You're changing me for the better in spite of myself, Zenigata. And I went too far to not have to deal with it and just leaned back into what was easier. I was too scared of it and didn't feel like I deserved it, you being so playful and kind and patient with me, you sparing my life all those times, me realizing I'd been doing everything all wrong for so long. And I regretted what I did to you immediately even though I didn't show it and just kept trying to bullshit and misdirect you. I shouldn't have done any of that."

Lupin shook his head violently. He was clearly angry at himself and frustrated.

"And I was also afraid if I talked to you like this it would upset whatever balance we had going. But I already upset it by hurting you. I'm sorry."

Zenigata had to be careful. He couldn't trust himself to know what was sincere and what wasn't, right? He had inhuman tenacity and an incorruptible moral compass, he was accomplished in his career and hard-working and capable, but he also didn't lack self-awareness. Lupin III was still much smarter than he was. Lupin III was a much better actor than he was. Lupin III could be one move away from shoving him off the roof again.

But when Lupin said all that and said he was sorry and looked at him the way he did, Zenigata figured it was better to keep being soft and gullible than to deaden his own humanity and not respond to it. So he stepped forward and he wrapped his arms around Lupin and he hugged him close.

He hadn't ever realized how much smaller Lupin was than him until just then.

After a beat Lupin reached out and hugged him back.

Zenigata spoke after pausing for a moment to find the right words.

"I want you to understand that when I'm chasing you, I'm not really thinking about you rotting in a jail cell, or you on death row or in the electric chair. That's not really- I'm just thinking about _you_ ," he said, punctuating the "you" with a heavy pat on Lupin's back.

"And when I was freaked out earlier I didn't consider that you saw me chasing you as me trying to kill you, too, just indirectly. And it was unfair of me to not consider that. I only ever thought about how fun it's been. I guess I've been avoiding thinking about what the end of it might be."

"So we're even, then?" joked Lupin, head turned against Zenigata's chest. The rain was picking up again but he could still feel and hear Zenigata's heartbeat.

"No," said Zenigata bluntly, "but I'm not scared you're gonna kill me anymore if that helps."

"Good. It does," said Lupin. Then, after a pause- "Hey, how's your hand?"

"I wasn't joking about needing to go to a hospital. It hurts like hell."

"At least that one isn't my fault!" said Lupin. From his voice Zenigata could tell he was smiling again.

"Maybe not _directly_ your fault this time," said Zenigata, also smiling.

"I'm gonna let you go in a second," said Lupin, "but before that can I tell you one other thing?"

"Sure, Lupin. What is it?"

"You're very handsome," replied Lupin matter-of-factly, side of his face still pressed tight against Zenigata's broad chest.

Zenigata went cherry-red. The embrace suddenly felt less platonic, less comfortable, not at all what he had intended when hugging Lupin to him, and he was feeling too hot, too awkward, and started to pull out of it. Lupin let him but then looked up at him and kept talking.

"You know how I can read you, Zenigata. I've never had a cop chasing me before who had feelings for me."

"No, I don't- I have no idea what-" said Zenigata, turning, trying to sidestep away from Lupin as Lupin turned to follow him, Zenigata practically crab walking sideways towards the stairwell door to exit the roof and get away.

"Especially not one as _fun_ as you," said Lupin. He looked alive again, happy, and even calling above the rain his voice was so gentle as he teased Zenigata. Maybe he was _too_ alive.

Blood was still dripping off of Zenigata's cut hand and he was flinging it around as he waved his hands in denial. "It's purely- I'm not-"

"I thought we were having an honest moment, Inspector! I'm just telling you how I _feel_! And right now I _feel_ that next time we meet up we could call a little truce, and I can hold you again, and we can-"

Zenigata was already into the stairwell and running down, having made the decision that his complex inner world had been stimulated enough for one evening.

Lupin sat on the edge of the roof to give Zenigata a few minutes to leave before he did. It was a very dirty trick he'd just pulled and he knew it. But like before he'd at least been honest, and like before it was the best he, a thief and a liar, could do.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it would be fun to write something very melodramatic where Lupin acted like a straight-up supervillain. So I did. Thanks for reading!


End file.
